last update: October 19, currently 19 models in this collection
Ford wanted to defeat Ferrari at Le Mans and developed the GT40. The first two years brought no success to the Americans. The GT40 with its 4.7 liter Weslake engines was not quicker than the Ferraris and far from reliable. But when Caroll Shelby put 7-liter Nascar engines in the improved GT40, dubbed MkII, things changed.
1966 Daytona
1966 Daytona 24h, Ford MkII. The Daytona 24 hour race of 1966 was the first appearance of the improved Ford GT40, the MkII. The cars proved to be fast and reliable and Ford took 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th positions at the finish. Three cars were entered by the team of Shelby, the #95 car was prepared by Holman & Moody, a well-known Nascar team. Another Holman & Moody car retired. Miles and Ruby would also win the 12h of Sebring, just weeks later.
#95 Holman & Moody – Mark Donohue (USA) / Walt Hansgen (USA) – 3rd
#96 Shelby Inc. – Chris Amon (NZ) / Bruce McLaren (NZ) – 5th
#97 Shelby Inc. – Jerry Grant (USA) / Dan Gurney (USA) – 2nd
#98 Shelby Inc. – Ken Miles (USA) / Lloyd Ruby (USA) – 1st
Ford MkII – 7.0 liter Ford 427 V8 90º, approx. 485 hp. Goodyear tires. Weight 1000 kg. Steel monocoque, chassisnrs. Shelby #1031, #1011, #1012 & #1015
- UNIVERSAL HOBBIES UH 3696 (#95) & UH 3693 (#97) (diecast)
- IXO Classic Le Mans & GT Cars GTM074 (#96) & GTM050 (#98) (diecast)
1966 Le Mans
1966 Le Mans 24h, Ford MkII. The real test was of course the Le Mans 24 hour race. After two years of failure, Ford did everything to win this year’s race; No less than 8 MkII’s were entered by Shelby, Holman & Moody and Alan Mann Racing. And another 6 GT40 MkI’s as backup by some other teams. The Ford engines delivered 485 hp instead of the 550 that they were capable off, to improve reliability. Ford won with a magnificent 1-2-3, the first two cars being entered by Shelby.
#1 Shelby Inc. – Ken Miles (USA) / Denny Hulme (NZ) – 2nd
#2 Shelby Inc. – Bruce McLaren (NZ) / Chris Amon (NZ) – 1st
#3 Shelby Inc. – Jerry Grant (USA) / Dan Gurney (USA) – DNF / cooling
Ford MkII – 7.0 liter Ford 427 V8 90º, approx. 485 hp. Goodyear tires. Weight 1000 kg. Steel monocoque, chassisnrs. Shelby #1015 #1046 & #1047
- IXO Classic Le Mans & GT Cars LMC107 (#1)
- BANG 7081 (#2)
- UNIVERSAL HOBBIES UH 63729 (#3)
1966 Le Mans 24h, Ford MkII. The only Holman & Moody car that finished was the #5 car that finished 3rd.
#4 Holman & Moody – Paul Hawkins (AUS) / Mark Donohue (USA) – DNF / differential
#5 Holman & Moody – Ronnie Bucknum (USA) / Dick Hutcherson (USA) – 3rd
#6 Holman & Moody – Lucien Bianchi (B) / Mario Andretti (USA) – DNF / engine
Ford MkII – 7.0 liter Ford 427 V8 90º, approx. 485 hp. Goodyear tires. Weight 1000 kg. Steel monocoque, chassisnrs. Shelby #1032 #1016 & #1031
- IXO Classic Le Mans & GT Cars LMC109, LMC110 & LMC 111 (diecast)
1966 Le Mans 24h, Ford MkII. All other MkII’s failed to reach the finish.
#7 Alan Mann Racing – Graham Hill (GB) / Brian Muir (AUS) – DNF / suspension
#8 Alan Mann Racing – Sir John Whitmore (GB) / Frank Gardner (AUS) – DNF / clutch
Ford MkII – 7.0 liter Ford 427 V8 90º, approx. 485 hp. Goodyear tires. Weight 1000 kg. Steel monocoque, chassisnrs. Shelby #XGT-2 & #XGT-1
#59 Essex Wire Ford GT40 MkI – Skip Scott (USA) / Peter Revson (USA) – DNF / engine
Ford GT 40 – 4.7 liter Ford 289 Weslake V8 90º , approx. 400 hp. Firestone tires. Weight 920 kg. Steel monocoque, chassisnr. #1038
- IXO Classic Le Mans & GT Cars LMC112 (diecast)
- BANG 7093 (diecast)
- MODEL BOX #unknown (diecast)
1967 Le Mans
1967 Le Mans 24h, Ford MkIV. However the GT 40 MkII took a convincing win in 1966, it was too heavy and aerodynamics were quite poor. So Shelby and Ford developed an entire new car. the MkIV was about 140 kg lighter than its predecessor thanks to an aluminum honeycomb chassis and it was much more aerodynamic. The only thing that it took over from the MkII was the 7-liter engine and 4-speed Kraft gearbox. Four MkIV’s were entered for Le Mans, 2 by Shelby and 2 by Holman & Moody. Only the Shelby’s reached the finish.
#1 Shelby Inc. Dan Gurney (USA) / A.J. Foyt (USA) – 1st
#2 Shelby Inc. Bruce McLaren (NZ) / Mark Donahue (USA) – 4th
#4 Holman & Moody Lloyd Ruby (USA) / Denny Hulme (NZ) – DNF
Ford MkII – 7.0 liter Ford 427 V8 90º, approx. 530 hp. Goodyear tires. Weight 1100 kg. Aluminum monocoque, chassisnrs. Shelby #J5, #J6 & #J8
- IXO Le Mans 24 Heures LMM1967 (diecast)
- IXO Classic Le Mans & GT Cars LMC009 & LMC011 (diecast)
1968 Ford P68
1968 Nürburgring 1000 km, Ford P68. Manufacturers had to switch to new prototypes to match the 3-liter formula. So did Ford, they developed this P69 with 3-liter Cosworth DFV engine and had it built by Alan Mann Racing. The Ford P68 was very hard to drive and was unreliable. In 1969 it raced once with a large aerofoil with #58. That was not in 1968 at the Nürburgring, so the model that I have is wrong! After that, Ford introduced the P69 which needed two large spoilers to keep it on the track. It raced only once at Brands Hatch, the CSI banned the large wings and the Ford was undrivable without and disappeared. In the same years, JWA Racing won Le Mans twice with an old Ford GT40 that had a 5-liter engine because it was labeled as a legacy sports car.
#7 Frank Gardner (AUS) / Richard Attwood (GB
) – DNF
Ford P68 – 3.0 liter Cosworth DFV V8 90º, approx. 420 hp. Goodyear tires. Weight 670 kg. Aluminum monocoque, chassisnr. #002
- MINICHAMPS unknown (wrong model … diecast)
1982 – 1983 Group C
1982 Le Mans 24h, Ford C100. After the flop with the P68 and P69, Ford quit prototype racing for quite some time. With their Cosworth engines, Ford kept supporting teams and managed to win Le Mans in 1975 (Gulf-Mirage) and 1980 (Rondeau). In 1982, the new group C regulations seduced Ford and they returned with the C100. In fact it was powered by a successor of the engine that the P68/P69 used, this time enlarged to 3.9 liter. That was part of the problem; the Cosworth DFL vibrated so much that it tore chassis’ apart. That was the other problem; the aluminum chassis was not rigid enough and flexed far too much. Both Zakspeed entered cars retired.
#6 Klaus Ludwig (D) / Manfred Winkelhock (D) / Marc Surer (CH) – DNF
Ford C100- 3.0 liter Cosworth DFV V8 90º, approx. 550 hp. Goodyear tires. Weight 830 kg. Aluminum monocoque, chassisnr. Thompson #004
- BIZARRE BZ339 (resin)
1983 Le Mans 24h, Rondeau M482 – Cosworth. Ford killed the C100 project after only one season and officially supported Rondeau that was the last Le Mans winner using Ford’s engine. The Rondeau M482 looked very spectacular, but with its strong vibrating Cosworth V8 3.9 liter it was no match for the Porsches. All three cars went out with an engine failure.
#24 Henri Pescarolo (F) / Thierry Boutsen (B) – DNF
Rondeau M482 – 3.0 liter Cosworth DFV V8 90º, approx. 550 hp. Goodyear tires. Weight 820 kg. Aluminum monocoque, chassisnr. M482 #002
- BIZARRE BZ24 (resin)
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